Conversation

What You Said About …

EBOLA

Our Oct. 13 cover package on the spread of the virus sparked an anxiety-filled debate. Silas Mariano of Oceanside, Calif., advocated closing off travel between West Africa and the U.S. “We are not chasing Ebola in the U.S.,” he wrote. “The President and CDC have welcomed it with open borders and airports.” Others disagreed. “We need to bring more people in from West Africa so we can cure them, which in turn will snuff this virus out,” wrote TIME.com reader aztecian. “It is NOT easily transmitted.”

LEON PANETTA ON IRAQ

In an exclusive article adapted from his book Worthy Fights, the former Defense Secretary expressed frustration that President Obama did not follow the advice he gave in 2011 to maintain a presence in Iraq to prevent groups like ISIS from taking root. The piece prompted strong opinions–Jonathan Allen of Bloomberg News called it a “pretty stunning condemnation”–and some GOP gloating. On Twitter, Senator John McCain wrote, “Sec Panetta totally refutes falsehood Pres Obama has told for yrs on residual force in #Iraq. Now we face consequence.” But many readers defended the President. “Trying to dump the appearance of ISIS on our President is totally unfair,” said Dorothy Neumann of Arlington, Va. Added John Moore of Hendersonville, N.C.: “The major impediment to stability in Iraq was not the withdrawal of U.S. troops but the continuation in office of Iraq’s Nouri al-Maliki.”

CORNEL WEST

In 10 Questions, the academic criticized the President for committing “war crimes” with drones and indicated that he didn’t vote in the 2012 election. An indignant Scott Smith of West Hollywood, Calif., responded, “The difference between terrorists, who target innocent civilians, and our military is that we try to avoid such deaths.” Janice Belsky of Encino, Calif., wrote, “West didn’t vote for anybody in 2012? What sort of message does that send to the black community?”

ON TIME.COM

On Oct. 13, we’ll reveal our roundup of the year’s most influential teens–spanning music, politics, business and more. Here, a preview of the list; see more at time.com/influentialteens.

MO’NE DAVIS, 13

Little League wunderkind

JOSHUA WONG, 17

Hong Kong activist

LORDE, 17

Multiplatinum singer

BETHANY MOTA, 18

Budding YouTube mogul

NOW ON TIME.COM

An interactive heat map provided exclusively to TIME by Twitter illustrates the way the Ebola discussion shifted from Sept. 16 to Oct. 6. Among the findings: On the night of Oct. 1, a day after news broke of the first U.S. diagnosis, users worldwide sent tweets mentioning Ebola at a rate of 6,000 per minute, compared with 100 per minute on Sept. 19. See more at time.com/ebolamap.

BEHIND THE STORY

On Oct. 1, TIME and Real Simple hosted the first Women & Success conference in New York City. A highlight: TIME editor Nancy Gibbs’ interview with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, above left, in which they discussed everything from her struggle to break into politics to why the Senator can’t stand the phrase having it all. “I think it’s insulting,” Gillibrand told Gibbs. “What are you having? A party? Another slice of pie?” For more on the event, visit time.com/womenandsuccess.

Please recycle this magazine and remove inserts or samples before recycling